SSR December 2012, 94(347) 129 Leadership and modelling exemplary practice: a re-imagined role for the head of department Wayne Melville, Todd Campbell and Anthony Bartley ABSTRACT Science departments are more than administrative units within a school; they are also communities that can exert a powerful inluence on teaching and learning. This article re- imagines the role of the head of department in a way that relects both the administrative and leadership roles of the position. The leadership role requires science heads to focus on their own, and their colleagues’, attention to professional growth with respect to teaching and learning. In our re-imagining, we highlight three key areas: leadership, modelling exemplary practice, and the need to balance the two metaphors of organisation and community. A casual look through secondary school yearbooks in many Commonwealth countries will reveal the ubiquity of the subject department: a group of teachers separated from other groups of teachers by the uniqueness of ‘their’ subject and fiercely protective of ‘their’ territory. Traditionally, departments have been viewed as organisations. However, the teachers in the departmental photograph do not readily identify themselves as an organisation – they identify as teachers of ‘their’ subject. The reality is that teachers in departments are simultaneously members of both an organisation and a community. This has profound implications for the role of the head of department (HoD). The former Teacher Training Agency (1998: 4) summarised this role as follows: A subject leader has responsibility for securing high standards in teaching and learning in their subject as well as playing a major role in the development of school policy and practice. Throughout their work, a subject leader ensures that practices improve the quality of education provided, meet the needs and aspirations of all pupils, and raise standards of achievement in the school. The literature on departmental leadership (see Rennie, 2011) indicates that, to begin to fulfil these responsibilities, HoDs need to be actively working with their departments in a number of areas. The overarching goal of departmental leadership, however, is the cultivation of a critical moral view of education: This process is a moral and a political one because it involves the creating, organising, managing, monitoring and resolving of value conflicts, where values are defined as concepts of the desirable ... and power is used to implement some values rather than others. (Brundrett and Terrell, 2004: 17) In accepting this position, we are endorsing the belief of West et al. (2000) that deep change in school is achieved through distributed leadership built around values. Furthermore, we believe the potential impact of the HoD is diminished when they only function in an administrative role and forgo the role of professional learner and leader in focusing their own, and their colleagues’, attention on professional growth with respect to teaching and learning. This article paints a picture of how we may re-imagine the role of the HoD in a way that honours both the administrative and leadership roles of the position. In our re-imagining, we highlight three key areas: leadership, modelling exemplary practice, and the need to balance the two metaphors of organisation and community. In each area, we have included comments from teachers and HoDs whom we have worked with over the past decade. The value of including their words is to offer exemplars of how HoDs can positively